Who wants to help me shop for a new car seat?

[amf78]

DH FINALLY agreed to go for baby #3 . My older boys are 5 & 7, so I'm a little out of the loop on all the new seats. They both rode in Snugride infant seats and the Classic Marathon. All those seats are expired, so we will need a new seat for a new baby (who, if we are going to get technical, isn't conceived yet . Clearly, I'm a little excited!)

My needs:

Probably a convertible. This is our last baby and I can't justify the expense of both an infant bucket and then a convertible, especially since we will have to buy 2 seats (one for each of our cars). Both my boys are tall and were big babies so they were out of the bucket by 4 months.

Tall top harness slots. My older boys are VERY tall--my oldest turned 7 this weekend and is already 4' 8". I need tall harness slots to accommodate a potentially tall kid. I did ERF with both the boys, but had to turn them just before they were 2 because they hit the 33 lbs. RF limit their seat had. With the higher RF weight limits on seats now I anticipate they would potentially outgrow the height of the seat before the weight.

Fit in a 3-across situation. Currently my boys ride in Frontiers (one is an 85, one is the original) in my car and a Parkway SGL and Nautilus in my husband's. I drive a 2004 Honda Pilot and our other car is a 4-door F150.

Recommendations? I have been poking around, but the number of options seems to have quadrupled since the last time I was car seat shopping!

[jjordan]

Okay, well, first off... infant seats have really grown since your boys were babies. Most of them now fit average infants for at least a year, usually longer, and even a very tall baby will fit for a long time. Also if you get an infant seat with a decent resale value, you can recoup a fair amount of money (list it on Craigslist or consign it when you're done). So I wouldn't totally rule out an infant seat.

One advantage of buying an infant seat first is that you have some idea of your child's growth pattern before committing to a convertible. Also, you have more convertible options to choose from, since some are really not appropriate for newborns.

Looking at the big picture, you may have more luck with 3 across if you get the frontier (at least one of them) and nautilus out of the equation. They are both quite wide and not known for playing nicely with other seats. Speaking of 3 across... seems like you wouldn't need that for the Pilot, I thought they were 7/8 passenger? Or were some of them just 5 passenger?

When do the frontiers expire? Because another consideration is that you really only need the convertible to last long enough for the child to move into a frontier, if you have one that will still be good when the child is about 6 and ready to move into a belt-positioning booster.

All that said. If I were planning to get a convertible within the next year, I'd take a good, hard look at the Chicco NextFit, which is due out toward the end of this month.

Radians are commonly suggested for 3 across and for tall kids, but honestly they are not the easiest to use, so you could try one, but it wouldn't be at the top of *my* list.

The Clek Foonf is terrific for tall kids and narrow, but not suitable for newborns. And $$$.

[thtr4me]

Seats I would suggest you look into:

Diono Radian
Graco Size4Me 70 (My Size 70, Headwise 70)
Peg Perego Convertible
First Years True Fit
Maxi-Cosi Pria
Safety First Complete Air

And I don't know the stats offhand, but Chicco is coming out with a convertible in April, the NextFit. May be worth looking into.

[amf78]

Originally Posted by jjordan Looking at the big picture, you may have more luck with 3 across if you get the frontier (at least one of them) and nautilus out of the equation. They are both quite wide and not known for playing nicely with other seats. Speaking of 3 across... seems like you wouldn't need that for the Pilot, I thought they were 7/8 passenger? Or were some of them just 5 passenger? When do the frontiers expire? Because another consideration is that you really only need the convertible to last long enough for the child to move into a frontier, if you have one that will still be good when the child is about 6 and ready to move into a belt-positioning booster. All that said. If I were planning to get a convertible within the next year, I'd take a good, hard look at the Chicco NextFit, which is due out toward the end of this month. Radians are commonly suggested for 3 across and for tall kids, but honestly they are not the easiest to use, so you could try one, but it wouldn't be at the top of *my* list. The Clek Foonf is terrific for tall kids and narrow, but not suitable for newborns. And $$$.

Our Pilot has a third row that folds down, but I'd rather try to get 3 across in the second row. With the third row up there is barely any cargo room. I was pretty sure at least one of the Frontier's would have to go. That's fine, I was thinking I could move my oldest out of his and use the Parkway Booster we have. It's pretty skinny. I think one of our Frontier's has 5 years before it expires and the other has 6. I'd have to check for sure.

I'll look in to the Next Fit for sure. And reconsider the infant seat. I thought about the Radian but had heard they take up a lot of front to back room rear-facing and that might be a problem because DH and I are both tall, so we need leg room in the front seats.

Thanks!

[amf78]

Originally Posted by thtr4me Seats I would suggest you look into: Diono Radian Graco Size4Me 70 (My Size 70, Headwise 70) Peg Perego Convertible First Years True Fit Maxi-Cosi Pria Safety First Complete Air And I don't know the stats offhand, but Chicco is coming out with a convertible in April, the NextFit. May be worth looking into.

Thanks, this gives me a starting point!